Potato cutter and planter



1. E. PAUL-SON.

POTATO CUTTER AND PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27. 1919.

1,406,679,- V Patented Feb.'14,1922,

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L'E. PAULSON.

POTATO CUTTER AN D' PLANTEIL APPLICATION FILED sEPT.27, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. 1,406,679. l Patented Feb.14,1922.

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PATENT orties.

JOHN n. rirULsoN, or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

Vro'rivro CUTTER AND IPLANTER.

Spe'cicatbnof Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, I1922.

'App'iimtiniuea'september 27,1919. serial No. 327,411.

To all whom t mag/concern: l Be it known :that I, JOHN y citizen of the United States residing vat Minneapolia in the county'of 'liIennepin and EYPAULsoN, ia

y State of Minnesota, have invented a new and one of its bottom apertures into the seeding tube below the rigid hopper base. Fig. 4 is a vtop view of the main member, 17, of the hopper bottom. Fig. 5 is a top view of a secondary or upper member of the hopper bottom. Fig. 6 is a top view of the blade that cuts each potato in twol before the planting. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7 in Fig. 6.

Referring to they drawings by reference numerals, '8 designates the usual supporting wheels, 9 the axle and 10 the main frame of the machine. Said frame may have a draft pole 11 and a seat 12. Secured upon the front part of the frame is a platform or base, 13, having two seed dropping apertures, 14, with depending seed dropping tubes 15, carried in linear position forward of each ground wheel 8, so that said wheels will cover the planted potatoes after they are dropped into a furrow made by any kind of suitable furrow-opener (not shown).

.Adjacent each seed tube 15 is mounted upon the base a hopper 16; both hoppers being alike I need not describe more than one of them. Each hopper has a bottom 17 rotatable on a central hub or boss 18, which is iixed on the base 13 by bolts 19 and by a post 20 having a nut 21 belo'w the base and a thinner nut 22 sunk into the top of the base. Said bolts 19 and a nut 22a hold also a radial potato-cutting blade 23, havin a sharp edge 24, and ribs 25 at its undersi e, the bottom 17 having clearness 26 for said ribs, (see Figs. 3 and 4).

Fach hopper vbottom has its periphery provided with teeth 27, which are engaged 'by pinions 28 iixed on vertical `shafts 29,

(see Fig. 2) which are journaled in a frame 30 fixed up under the base 13 andV are .pro-

vided with bevel gears 31, 'driven by bevel gears 32 fixed on a horizontal shaft 33. ,the latter shaft are also iixed several gears 34 of different diametersandarranged to be engaged one ata time by one of several differently sized gears, y35, which are adjust- `ably secured by. set-screws `upon a shaft 3G. .The latter shaftis journaled in suitable Vbearings 37 and provided with sprocket38,

whih is driven by a chain 39 anda sprocket 40; the latter is 4rotatable `on the axle 9, betweent'wo collars, 41, 42, yand its -hub is ffprovided with clutch teeth 43, Vadapted, to be "engaged by a clutch member, 44, which is slidably keyed on the axle and moved by u. shifter 45, fulcrumed at 46 and engageable with a notched bracket 47.

In Figs. 3 and 4 is shown that the sheet Ihole rotatable on the post 20; a space 52 (shown to the left in Fig. 3) is thus provided between the two bottom members for the blade 23; said space may be formed by an annular cavity in either member. Upon said upper member rests a flaring ring 53 and a truncated cone 54, the latter is retained upon the post 2O by a nut 55 and a jam-nut 56. Between said ring and cone the potatoes placed in the hopper are uided down into apertures or pockets 57 w ich are formed in the bottom inembers 17 and 51y in registering position above each other, and which may be of any desired form, as indicated at A, B and C in Fig. 4, with intervening radial arms 58 by which potatoes aremoved along upon the base.

In the operation of the machine, if the potatoes to be planted are extra small, the ring 53 and cone 54 may be removed and rep-laced by larger ones, like 53X and 54X, and if the potatoes are extra large a third bottom member, 17a, similar to the member 51, is

placed upon the base andV with its dowel pins engaged in the cavities 50X in Fig. 3. Such third bottom member is to increase the height of the spokes 58 and the cutter blade so that even large potatoes will be cut in two practically equal parts. Or, very large potatoes may be cut in three parts or slices by removing the bottom section 17 and its hub section, 18a.

-When the machine is inoperation with potatoes in the hoppers, each radial arm 58 causes one potato to be cut by the blade and passed one half of it in under the blade and into the seeding tube, the ribs 25 preventing it from sticking to the blade; the other half of that potato is moved across the top of the blade and dropped into the wheel or bottom pocket emerging from under the blade, and is thus carried along until it reaches the blade again, when it is either cut again or it kpasses underneath it and is dropped into the tube and leaves the pocket empty for moving a whole potato to the blade at the next rotation of the hopper. The distance between the hills depends on which one of the gearsis moved into mesh. 'Ilie distance between the rows is determined by the distance between the planting tubes. And if the machine is to be driven idle, the clutch member 44 is moved out of engagement with the member 43.

What I claim is:

. l.' In a potato planting machine, of the type havin a supported frame, and a potato dropping tube depending from said frame, a fiat base fixed on the frame and having an aperture leadinginto the tube, a cylindrical hopper mounted to rotate upon the base and having its bottom skeletoned into radial arms for Inoving potatoes into the dropping tube, a cutter blade spaced above and fixed to thebas'e radially of the hopper across the top of the tube; said bottom composed oi a lower main member moving below the blade and an upper member moving close above the blade, and means for rotating said hopper and its bottom.

2. The structure 'speciiedin claim l, and l means within the hopper for changing the size of the opening which admits the potatoes to pass downward into the spaces in the bottom.

,3. The structure specified in claim l, and means for increasing the height of the bottom member below the cutting blade.

4L. The structure specied in claim 1, said blade having at its underside rigid ribs and said radial yportions of the bottom having clearings for said ribs.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN E. PAULSON. 

